POLICE GROUP, MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS IN FIRSTNET SPAT — Tony Romm has the story: "Telecom giant Motorola Solutions drew the ire of [the Fraternal Order of Police] after one of the company’s consultants urged Virginia cops to contact state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli with criticisms about a $7 billion project to create a new post-Sept. 11 wireless network for first responders. . . . Motorola Solutions has labored extensively this year to highlight flaws with the network, known as FirstNet, which could cut into one of the company’s key sources of revenue. But a company spokesman told POLITICO it never sent the consultant to Virginia and he isn’t a lobbyist. . . Still, the incident drew a sharp rebuke last month from the Fraternal Order of Police and amplified questions about Motorola Solutions and its earlier efforts to drum up FirstNet opposition." MORE, for Pros: http://politico.pro/19lj10J

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SOURCES: GOV TELLS TECH DISCLOSURES WOULD VIOLATE FISA -- After several delays, the Justice Department has finally responded to petitions from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, LinkedIn and Facebook asking permission to disclose more information about national surveillance orders, according to sources close to the matter. The government says that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act orders that companies receive are classified and disclosure would violate both FISA and the court’s wishes, according to the sources. The response was filed this week, but has not been posted yet on the FISA Court’s website.

Separately, Yahoo this week has asked the FISA Court for permission to review the government’s submission of what documents it would make public related to a key 2008 court order sent to the firm. The court is already reviewing the government’s suggestion for declassification — but the company said it, too, wants to review the documents “to ensure the redactions are well founded and do not unintentionally create a risk that the documents will be misunderstood.” http://1.usa.gov/16FvzWJ

SHUTDOWN STATE-OF-PLAY: DEBT CEILING SOON A FACTOR — POLITICO’S Manu Raju, Jake Sherman, and Carrie Budoff Brown: “A harsh reality began setting into Capitol Hill on Tuesday: The U.S. government may not reopen until the two parties reach a deal to raise the national debt ceiling...if the standoff continues to creep toward the Oct. 17 deadline to raise the $16.7 trillion national debt ceiling, the two issues will become intertwined — and potentially intractable. House Republican leaders and top Senate Democrats privately began discussing this increasingly likely possibility Tuesday, but the two sides have yet to engage in any direct negotiations in the acrimonious budget dispute.”

“That means a federal shutdown — which has suspended government services across the country and prompted furloughs of hundreds of thousands of federal workers — could persist for weeks until Congress and the White House cut a deal to avoid a first-ever default on the national debt….Within the next few days, if House Republicans don’t accept a Senate plan to open the government until mid-November, Reid is highly unlikely to accept a budget deal if it does not increase the debt ceiling, Democratic sources said Tuesday.” http://politi.co/16Fw2rL

— MORE SHUTDOWN CASUALTIES: The Senate Intel Committee has canceled a closed-door markup on a bill to make changes to the National Security Agency’s intelligence practices. The vote had already been pushed to Thursday.

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where a resurgence in high temperatures this week has us nostalgic for summer days. Tell us what you miss — maybe it’s just a government running at full speed — with a note to abyers@politico.com and @byersalex. And catch the rest of the team’s contact info after speed read.

GROUPS WANT OPEN MEETINGS FOR PRIVACY TASK FORCE — Several privacy advocates are calling on the gaggle of House lawmakers tasked with hammering out principles on consumer privacy issues to conduct its business out in the open. The task force, led by Reps. Marsha Blackburn and Peter Welch, held its first meeting last week with representatives from Google, Wal-Mart and BlueKai, behind closed doors. They expect to hold 9 more similar meetings. “While we are pleased that you have taken up Rep. [Lee] Terry’s recommendation to examine the enormously important issue of consumer privacy, there is simply no reason for your task force to hold closed-door session,” the groups, led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Consumer Federation of America, wrote in a letter to Blackburn and Welch Tuesday. Catch the letter here: http://bit.ly/1fGEt9Q

— BY THE WAY: Two of the signers, EPIC’s Marc Rotenberg and the Center for Digital Democracy’s Jeff Chester, were slated to talk shop at a task force meeting today — with the Direct Marketing Association’s Rachel Thomas and Mercatus Center’s Adam Thierer in attendance as well. But that meeting, too, has been postponed, shutdown-style.

** A message from ABC’s Super Fun Night: Don’t miss the series premiere of Super Fun Night tonight at 9:30|8:30c on ABC! abc.com/SuperFunNight**

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FCC LIFELINE FINES SHOW ACTION, VINDICATE CRITICS -- Jessica, in today’s paper: “The Federal Communications Commission made one thing clear just before the government shut down. It won’t stop attacking violators of the ‘Obama phone.’ Agency officials blasted out an announcement Monday night that proposed a fine on five service providers of Lifeline, a longtime phone subsidy program that has stoked congressional ire. The suggested penalties total more than $14.4 million for signing up ineligible customers and take aim at TracFone, the largest participant and a frequent target of attacks.”

“The FCC wants to show movement on reforms enacted last year, and this represents some of its most targeted efforts yet. But it also vindicates Lifeline critics, who question the success of the changes, liken the program to a federal handout have launched a crusade to dismantle it….TracFone, which launched a lobbying blitz this year to promote Lifeline and combat congressional attacks, said it would challenge the FCC’s assertions. Other companies under scrutiny include Icon Telecom, Assist Wireless, Easy Wireless and uTphone. All have 30 days to respond.” http://politi.co/GzOtBq

GOOGLE, EU APPROACH ANTITRUST DEAL — NYT: “The tech giant escaped serious antitrust action in the United States early this year, and in April it dodged a hefty penalty in Europe...The third piece of good fortune — from Google’s standpoint, at least — came on Tuesday.”

“The European deal would go much further than a settlement early this year with the Federal Trade Commission, which required only minor concessions from Google. It would also allow Google to avoid a potential fine of up to $5 billion and a finding of wrongdoing that could limit its future activities.” http://nyti.ms/16Fytux

MORE SHUTDOWN RUNDOWN: WHICH SITES ARE UP, WHICH ARE DOWN — Ars Technica’s Cyrus Farivar: “We have now conducted a more thorough examination of 50-plus different .gov websites…What emerges is a rather bizarre picture. Nearly all of the agencies we looked at are up, even those with a message about the shutdown. Very few, in fact, have genuinely closed down entirely.” http://bit.ly/1fGzqGk

PERSONNEL BYTE: EX-ROSENWORCEL AIDE TO CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS — Alex Hoehn-Saric, until recently the policy director for FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, is taking over as senior VP for government affairs at Charter Communications, the firm is announcing today. Prior to his work at the FCC, he was at the Department of Commerce and Senate Commerce panel.

— PLUS: FACEBOOK SEEKS GOV’T OUTREACH MANAGER — Per RollCall: “Facebook is looking to put a new face for managing relationships with governments, politicians and political influencers on how to best use Facebook to engage with voters and citizens...Their responsibilities include managing the implementation and optimization of trainings on how to use Facebook for governments and politicians in the United States; leading strategic relationships with elected officials and campaigns.” MT hears that no one’s leaving the FB government outreach squad — rather, they’re expanding. More from RollCall: http://bit.ly/1fGMZFP

SPEED READ

HOUSE DEMS PLAN IMMIGRATION BILL: Key lawmakers like Pelosi and Becerra have been amongst the group working on legislation in recent weeks, Seung Min Kim reports: http://politi.co/18MTzoP

INVESTORS PUSH FOR GATES TO STEP DOWN: With Steve Ballmer already on the way out, some are taking aim at the chairman of the board, Reuters reports: http://reut.rs/18MT6mq

FAA PANEL ENDORSES WI-FI SAFETY; The move goes further than what was expected for the agency’s advisory committee on electronic devices, the Wall Street Journal reports: http://on.wsj.com/18MTkKi

** A message from ABC’s Super Fun Night: Super Fun Night premieres tonight at 9:30|8:30c on ABC! Kimmie's eagerness to try new things flags when she learns the next super fun night destination is a piano bar; Kendall decides to do something about Kimmie and Richard's friendship. See more at abc.com/SuperFunNight **

Authors:

About The Author

Alex Byers is a technology reporter for POLITICO Pro. He was previously a senior Web producer at POLITICO, where he helped run POLITICO's Twitter and Facebook accounts. Before joining the Web team, he graduated from The George Washington University, where he served as the 2009-10 editor-in-chief of The GW Hatchet, the school's award-winning student newspaper.

Previously, he has interned at washingtonpost.com, Dateline NBC and General Mills Inc. He hails from Minneapolis and is an avid Twins fan, musician and golfer.